Helmets have long been worn in the sport of football to protect a player's head from injury resulting from impact with other players, ground impact, or impact with objects on or off the field. Typical prior art helmets include an outer shell made from durable plastic materials, a liner made from a shock absorbing material, a face guard and a chin strap which also functions in some designs as a chin protector. Resilient fitment pads that “fit” the helmet to the wearer are typically situated about the inner periphery of a football helmet and provide a means to eliminate a loose fitting helmet. However, fitment pads provide little if any impact absorption properties to the helmet since comfort demands that fitment pads have a fairly low compressive strength. Helmet liners have taken several forms over the years, including encased foam padding, fluid filled jackets or pockets, air inflated bags lining the inner surface of the helmet and other design approaches.
It is well recognized that no helmet can completely prevent injuries to persons playing the sport of football. The very nature of football is quite physical with much emphasis placed on strength and speed of the players. As players have increased their strength and speed, corresponding improvements in safety equipment, specifically helmets, has not occurred. Shock attenuation and impact force absorption are of foremost importance in the design of a football helmet.
Serious concerns have been raised in recent years regarding concussion injuries suffered by athletes while playing football and the long term affect such injuries have on the mental and physical health of those afflicted. Some commentators suggest there may be significant consequences for continuing to play football before recovery from a concussion injury has taken place. Later life cognitive difficulties suffered by former football players are now being associated with concussion injuries received while playing football.
Recently, researchers found football athletes were three times more likely to die from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Lou Gehrig's disease than the general population. Further, the adverse impact on football as a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) diagnosis in many deceased players has caused great alarm amongst all involved with the sport. CTE is believed by experts to result from concussion events and may even be caused by smaller concussive events repeated over an extended period of time where the player does not exhibit concussion symptoms, as opposed to an acute concussion event having well known and identifiable symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, etc.
Given the recent media coverage of high profile football players who received concussion injuries while playing football and have later in life suffered from maladies and diseases of the brain resulting in abnormal life experiences and behavior, it is abundantly clear that more attention and effort must be expended to protect players from such injuries.
In view of the need for better football helmet protection from concussions, any new development in football helmet design that improves the impact absorption or impact attenuation characteristics of a helmet and lessens the forces transmitted to the head of a player is needed by those participating in the sport of football as well as desired by parents of children who play football.